Photos: On this day – December 7, 1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbor – “a date which will live in infamy”

Posted Dec 07, 2012

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On this day – December 7, 1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbor – The Imperial Japanese Navy attacks the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army Air Forces and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing a declaration of war upon Japan by the United States. Japan also invades Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies at the same time.

The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. Of these eight damaged, two were raised, and with four repaired, six battleships returned to service later in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded. One Japanese sailor was captured.(AP, Wikipedia)

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  A small boat rescues a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. Two men can be seen on the superstructure, upper center. The mast of the USS Tennessee is beyond the burning West Virginia. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese Imperial Navy navigator Maeda guided his Kate bomber to Pearl Harbor and fired a torpedo that helped sink the USS West Virginia. This week,(Dec. 3, 2006) Takeshi Maeda and John Rauschkolb a crewman aboard the West Virginia at the time of the attack. met face-to-face for the first time _ and shook hands. (AP Photo)
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  Original caption: 12/7/1941-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii: A view of the Pearl Harbor Hawaii Naval Base, which was attacked by Japanese bombers.Submarines are at the dock.Two U.S. Warships,the Battleship West Virginia and Oklahoma were reported damaged or sunk in the attack.All available units of the U.S. Fleet Army and Air Force immediately began striking back as President Roosevelt met his Cabinet in an emergency session,preparatory to going before a joint sesson of Congress tomorrow to seek a formal Declaration of war against Japan. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Planes are lined up at Hickham Field, Air Corps post on Oahu, Hawaii. Reports said that a Japanese bomb struck the field. Washington made the announcement Dec. 7. (AP Photo)
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  This photograph, from a Japanese film later captured by American forces, is taken aboard the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku, just as a Nakajima "Kate" B-5N bomber is launching off deck for the second wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  A Japanese bomber, its diving flaps down, was photographed by a U.S. Navy photographer as the plane approached its Pearl Harbor objective on December 7. (AP Photo)
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  Japanese planes over Hawaii during the attack on Pearl Harbor May 4, 1943, are shown in this scene from a Japanese newsreel. The film was obtained by the U.S. War Department and released to U.S. newsreels. (AP Photo)
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  A Japanese bomber on a run over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii is shown during the surprise attack of Dec. 7, 1941. Black smoke rises from American ships in the harbor. Below is a U.S. Army air field. (AP Photo)
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  Believed to be the first bomb dropped on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in the sneak-attack on Dec. 7, 1941, this picture was found torn to pieces at Yokusuka Base by photographer's mate 2/C Martin J. Shemanski of Plymouth, Pa. One Japanese plane is shown pulling out of a dive near bomb eruption (center) and another the air at upper right. (AP Photo)
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  This Japanese navy airview of smoking U.S. ships during Pearl Harbor attack appeared in a 1942 publication called "The New Order in Greater East Asia," a copy of which has just become available, Oct. 14, 1945 in New York. (AP Photo)
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  Japanese plane, proceeds toward "Battleship Row" at Pearl Harbor after other bombers had hit USS Arizona, from which smoke billows, Dec. 7, 1941. Photo was taken from the yard of Army's Hickam Field Quarters by Mrs. Mary Naiden of New York City. (AP Photo)
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  Original caption: Unidentified planes are shown over Hickam Field on December 7, when the Japanese sneak attack raided the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  The destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  The sinking battleship USS Arizona begins to sink into the sea after being hit by a bomb during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. The majority of the crew members aboard, over 1100 men, lost their lives as the ship sank in less than ten minutes. (AP Photo)
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  The battleship USS Arizona belches smoke as it topples over into the sea during Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. The ship sank with more than 80 percent of its 1,500-man crew, including Rear Admiral Issac C. Kidd. The attack, which left 2,343 Americans dead and 916 missing, broke the backbone of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and forced America out of a policy of isolationism. President Franklin D. Roosvelt announced that it was "a date which will live in infamy" and Congress declared war on Japan the morning after. This was the first attack on American territory since 1812. (AP Photo)
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  As heavy smoke rolls out of the stricken USS West Virginia, a small boat rescues a crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. Two men can be seen on the superstructure, upper center. The mast of the USS Tennessee is beyond the burning West Virginia. (AP Photo)
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  This photo shows the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The USS Arizona is pictured in flames after the attack. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
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  The destroyer USS explodes in a massive fireball at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, during the surprise attack by Japanese planes that crippled the US fleet and prompted America's entry into World War II. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Original caption: Ten years after the holocaust that followed the sneak bombing attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans and every peaceful nation of the world still recalled the infamous prelude to World War II. On December 7, thereafter, the U.S. has observed memorial ceremonies to mark the end of that decade begun by tragedy. In this hitherto unpublished photo, the (R), has sunken into the waters of the harbor, as explosions rip through her decks and her hull fills up. At left is the alongside the (C). Still entombed in the Arizona's sunken hull are the bodies of 1102 Navy men. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  An undamaged light cruiser steams out past the burning USS Arizona and takes to sea with the rest of the fleet during the Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
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  The battleship USS California is afire and listing to port in the Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. (AP Photo)
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  Black smoke pours from the U.S. Destroyer USS Shaw after a direct hit by bombs during the surprise aerial attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Defenders on the pier at left throw water into the blazing wreckage. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
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  The battleship USS sinks into Pearl Harbor after being bombed by Japanese planes. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Two ships are seen burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. (AP Photo)
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  Heavy black smoke billows as oil fuel burns from shattered tanks on ships that were hit during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. Visible through the murk is the U.S. battleship Maryland, center, and the hulk of the capsized USS Oklahoma to the right of it. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
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  Torpedoed and bombed by the Japanese, the battleship USS West Virginia begins to sink after suffering heavy damage, center, while the USS Maryland, left, is still afloat in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. The capsized USS Oklahoma is at right. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
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  Heavy damage is seen on the destroyers, USS Downes (DD-375) and USS Cassin (DD-372), stationed at Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian island, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
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  Smoke clouds the sky over Pearl Harbor as two sailors crouch with their rifles on a pier at the submarine base, trying desperately to locate an enemy to fire upon, Dec. 7, 1941. Submarines berthed nearby are USS Tautog and USS Narwhal. (AP Photo)
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  A column of black smoke rises from the U.S. Navy base in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii at 7:55 a.m., Sun., Dec. 7, 1941 as Japan declared war against the United States. Bombs exploding over "Battleship Row," awakened Mrs. Mary Naiden of New York City, who was serving as a hostess at the Army's Hickam Field. She thought a U.S. plane had crashed into a gasoline or oil depot and took this photo without leaving her room. (AP Photo/Mary Naiden)
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  Officers' wives, investigating explosion and seeing smoke pall in distance on Dec. 7, 1941, heard neighbor Mary Naiden, then an Army hostess who took this picture, exclaim "There are red circles on those planes overhead. They are Japanese!" Realizing war had come, the two women, stunned, start toward quarters. (AP Photo/Mary Naiden)
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  Troops man a machine gun nest at Wheeler Field, which adjoins Schofield Barracks in Honolulu, after the Japanese attack on the island of Oahu, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  The battleship USS West Virginia is seen afire after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  1941-Pearl Harbor, T. H. taken by surprise, during the Japanese aerial attack, USS West Virginia (BB-48) aflame. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  During the attack on on Pearl Harbor the USS is hit while the USS capsizes. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Original caption: The U.S.S. sinking in Pearl Harbor after being bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. The U.S.S. lies capsized, extreme right. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Original caption: Pearl Harbor, HI: Japanese surprise aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the onset of the war with Japan. Photograph of USS Arizona at height of fire. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Looking toward Pearl Harbor Navy Yard from submarine base during Japanese attack. USS in foreground. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Explosions seen from Hickam Field during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Original caption: 12/7/1941-Pearl Harbor, HI: Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941; Explosion of the magazine of the U. S. S. Shaw. Photograph. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  The destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  Sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  A mass of twisted metal wreckage lay along a Honolulu street after the city had been attacked by Japanese planes Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  Three U.S. battleships are hit from the air during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Japan's bombing of U.S. military bases at Pearl Harbor brings the U.S. into World War II. From left are: USS West Virginia, severely damaged; USS Tennessee, damaged; and USS Arizona, sunk. (AP Photo)
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  Students of the Lunalilo High School in the Waikiki district of Honolulu watch their school burn after the roof of the main building, at center, is hit by a bomb during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  A small crowd inspects the damage, both inside and outside, after a Japanese bomb hit the residence of Paul Goo during the raid on Honolulu Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  A Japanese dive bomber goes into its last dive as it heads toward the ground in flames after it was hit by Naval anti-aircraft fire during surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  The body of a Japanese Lieutenant who crashed during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941 is buried with military honors by U.S. troops. This undated picture was released by the Navy Department in Washington. (AP Photo)
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  The shattered wreckage of American planes bombed by the Japanese in their attack on Pearl Harbor is strewn on Hickam Field, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  Smoke clouds the sky over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, as two sailors crouch with rifles on the pier at the submarine base trying to locate an enemy to fire on during World War II. Submarines berthed nearby are USS Tautog and USS Narwhal. (AP Photo)
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  Firemen and civilians rush to the scene with fire hoses to save homes and stores in the Japanese and Chinese sections of Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. As Japanese aviators rained bombs on Pearl Harbor, starting war in the Pacific, offshore properties are also wrecked and burned. (AP Photo)
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  Airmen at the Ford Island Naval Air Station watch smoke and flames billow from the USS Shaw which had just been blown up by Japanese bombers during the the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Rescue boats move in on the battleships U.S.S. (foreground) and U.S.S. which sit low in the water and burn after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Youths inspect the wreckage of a Japanese bomber, Dec. 17, 1941 brought down by a United States P-40 plane during the Dec 7, 1941 attack on Oahu, Hawaii. (AP Photo)
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  Airmen at the Ford Island Naval Air Station watch smoke and flames billow from the USS Shaw which had just been blown up by Japanese bombers during the the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  Black smoke rises from the burning wrecks of several U.S. Navy battleships after they had been bombed during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1942. (AP Photo)
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  Rescue workers help evacuate the Lunalilo High School in Honolulu after the roof of the main building was hit by a bomb during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  The 31,500-ton USS Maryland, battleship moored inboard of the USS Oklahoma which capsized, was damaged slightly in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  A Japanese consulate worker emerges from a shack where attaches were burning papers, ledgers, and other records in New Orleans, Dec. 7, 1941, after the White House announced news of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a south Pacific island that is a U.S. possession. (AP Photo)
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  Employees of the Japanese Embassy in Washington close the main gates to their building after the announcement by the White House that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, a U.S. possession in the Pacific, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
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  Men of a salvage crew aboard the tilted deck of the USS in Pearl Harbor, sunk during the December 7, 1941 sneak attack by the Japanese. (Copyright Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images)
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  The battleship USS Arizona is partially visible as it rests on the bottom of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Feb. 2, 1942. The Arizona was destroyed after it was hit by bombs in the Japanese aerial attack on Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)